Modern business and executive aircraft may incorporate, in addition to or instead of conventional forward-facing single-passenger seating associated with commercial aircraft, convertible seating configurations able to be reconfigured to allow the occupying passengers to sleep in a prone or near-prone position while inflight. For example, divans (e.g., sofas, couches, settees) may accommodate one or more passengers in a forward-facing, aft-facing, or inboard-facing orientation. Such an aircraft divan may be configured for compliance with any applicable seating regulations, e.g., equipped with seatbelts or harnesses to restrain the occupying passengers in an upright position during taxi, takeoff, and landing (TToL) phases or flight segments. Once the aircraft is inflight and a safe cruising altitude is achieved, the passenger/s may reposition or reconfigure the divan from an upright seated position (e.g., where the seatpan of the divan is substantially parallel to the aircraft floor and the backrest of the divan is substantially perpendicular, or at a slightly obtuse angle, thereto) to a fully extended, or berthed, position wherein the seatpan and backrest of the divan are substantially coplanar with each other and substantially parallel to the aircraft floor.
An occupying passenger may additionally reposition the divan to one or more intermediate reclining or “slouching” positions between the upright position and the berthed position. For example, a slouched position may be characterized by a seatpan at a slightly acute angle to the aircraft floor (e.g., wherein the rear end of the seatpan has dropped from its upright position, the front end of the seatpan has remained in its upright position, and the angle of the backrest to the aircraft floor has slightly increased). However, for the divan to be capable of multiple, or infinite, intermediate positions between the upright and berthed positions may require complex and heavy locking and articulation equipment for securing the divan in the desired intermediate position. Further, the divan may be configured for transition from the upright to the slouched position at least partially assisted by gravity and/or the weight of the occupying passenger. As a result, the transition from the upright to the slouched position, which may involve tracking the rear end of the seatpan along a downward path, may be uncomfortably rapid for the occupying passenger; similarly, achieving the slouched position may result in an abrupt jolt for the occupying passenger.